Entrepreneurs

Phoebe said:
and believe it or not to get licensed in catastrophic insurance adjusting.
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My brother did this and when the hurricanes hit in Florida a few years ago he made over $80K in 4 months. One of my very good friends here in town does it too. He bought a small camper and takes it to the disaster areas. He just hoooks up at a campground or whatever/wherever the others have set up and goes to work. Once you get in with an insurance company (like State Farm, Nationwide, etc.) they'll call you. The friend where I live made over $100K from Katrina in 6 mo. It's quite a challenge though. You've got people telling YOU what their property was worth, etc. -- and since you work for the insurance company, your job is to low ball.
 


















A friend of mine gave me some good advice - If you cancome up with a viable product and sell it to 100,000 people for at least a dollar profit margin, you can make a nice chunk of change. His theory is simple . . . Have a target audience without undertaking alot of overhead or risk and don't shoot for the stars - Also the key is to put money back into your 'venture' to build on your sucess. The challenge is coming up with that unique product and customer base. Who ever thought 'silly bands' or 'webkinz' would ever have taken off so well?
 






Rommy Revson patented the 'hair scrunchie' in the 80s...remember? Such a simple invention. However, she became wealthier by suing others in court who infringed on the patent.

I had an idea years ago that went to patent (by someone else). I never acted on doing anything with the idea unfortunately as I was too busy with family and work. While working for another company I came up with an idea - which they made and sold. Guess what I got? $1000 Big deal! I should have left the company before giving them the idea and done it myself. However, being 20 something, I was naive and didn't have the direction then. NOW...in my 'older' age I do.

I'm waiting for the light to go on again.
 






Another story...remember Post-it notes? That was an employee idea as well which the company made billions on. Moral of the story: Take your business plan, listen to your gut and make it happen yourself.
 












Scarlett said:
Another story...remember Post-it notes? That was an employee idea as well which the company made billions on. Moral of the story: Take your business plan, listen to your gut and make it happen yourself.
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Wait a minute here - I invented Post-it-notes! :cool:
 






  • ~T~   May 15, 2011 at 09:18: AM
Breakingnews said:
A friend of mine gave me some good advice - If you cancome up with a viable product and sell it to 100,000 people for at least a dollar profit margin, you can make a nice chunk of change. His theory is simple . . . Have a target audience without undertaking alot of overhead or risk and don't shoot for the stars - Also the key is to put money back into your 'venture' to build on your sucess. The challenge is coming up with that unique product and customer base. Who ever thought 'silly bands' or 'webkinz' would ever have taken off so well?
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Coming up with the *unique product* is not the challenge..it's the simple part. Even simpler for Robert Croak apparently,the creator of Silly Bandz, because he (in a sense) ripped off the idea from a very similar product...so hardly a *novel* innovation. See article below.

Anyhow, Croak was in a position to make money off Silly Bandz right off the bat. His contract manufacturing company was already established in China (BCP) and he quickly went into production after making the molds. His product costs next to nothing to produce and even after packaging and transport costs, his profit margin is huge. He sold to the same distribution channel he was already selling into..the perfect storm!

My point? Good ideas are a dime a dozen. Money makes money. If you've got it and/or can raise it, you can make it. The challenge is having/raising 25% more than you think you need for any venture. Luck factor w/market entry timing important, too. So many factors..too many to list here. Sorry for the downer--thought I'd inject a bit of sobering reality into this discussion!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_25/b4183064453633.htm
 






  • Wonka   May 15, 2011 at 10:31: AM
There is no housing crisis. There is a much needed correction and it needs to keep correcting in a few places.
 


















Scarlett said:
Has anyone ever considered getting into their own business? I always wanted to open up a restaurant of some kind. I have the know-how but the timing was bad (economy/risk factor) or the fact that we have the golden handcuffs on us.

I'm at a point where I want to do this now whether it is a service business, established business in a given location, etc. What areas has anyone considered or ventured into?
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I have had small but successful specialty packaging business since I retired from pharma in the late '90's. Can't speak for others, but it helps if you are going into a business because you have a passion for it. If you don't, you're more likely to go t/u. It's the passion that gets you through the rough times.
 
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